Vauldi Carelse
BBC Africa, Harare

Hundreds of Zimbabwean lawyers have taken to the streets of the capital, Harare, to call for the government and the judiciary to respect the law following violent protests that broke out a fortnight ago.

They singled out the judiciary for being complicit in human rights violations committed during operations to clampdown on protests that were sparked by the hiking fuel prices.

Security officers are alleged to have beaten members of the public and committed rape.

The lawyers criticised what they said was the judiciary's fast tracking of trials of protesters, the denial of bail and disregard for constitutional provisions.

They called on judges and magistrates to afford all accused people their rights as enshrined in the constitution.

More than 1,000 people were arrested following the countrywide demonstrations.

Police could not provide accurate figures of the numbers detained but police spokesperson Charity Charamba said in one suburb in Harare 14 minors were detained on various charges including public violence and arson.

Authorities say all children have been released into the care of their guardians.

Ms Charamba said, despite media reports of widespread sexual assaults, only one woman had recorded a charge of rape by soldiers.

BBC World Service

The authorities in Sudan have ordered the release of all people who have been detained during protests which began in December.

The ministry of information says the order to release them came from the country's intelligence and security chief.

Rights groups say more than 1,000 protesters including opposition leaders, activists and journalists were arrested on the streets during the almost daily demonstrations, which have been calling for President Omar el-Bashir to step down.

Correspondents say whilst this appears to be a concession to the protesters it remains to be seen if all will be set free including key activists who are highly critical of the government.

Nigerian Boko Haram militants are being given a chance to re-integrate into society.

A de-radicalisation programme in Nigeria is helping Boko Haram militants reintegrate with society.

One hundred and fifty ex-fighters are being taught vocational skills as part of the rehabilitation programme.

'Mohammed' (not his real name) surrendered to the Nigerian authorities after spending six years as Boko Haram fighter.

He says he was forced into the group after an attack on their village, but now regrets joining and is determined to rebuild his life.

Image source, Getty Images

Belgian authorities have asked for DNA samples of children adopted from the Democratic Republic of Congo to establish if their biological parents are still alive, reports say.

They have contacted the adoptive parents of some 15 children to find out if the youngsters were kidnapped, according to Belgian newspapers.

Prosecutors suspect the parents thought they were sending their children to a Kinshasa holiday camp not an orphanage.

The orphanage has since been shut down.

"There are only losers in this story and the judge will have to determine where the best interests of the kids lie," Flemish MP Lorin Parys told the BBC.

Read the BBC News story for more

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

The UN's refugee agency says more than 30,000 people have fled a town in north-east Nigeria fearing renewed attacks by Islamist militants.

The UNHCR says they left the town of Rann over the weekend and crossed into Cameroon, after soldiers from a regional military force withdrew from the area.

Boko Haram jihadists have repeatedly attacked Rann where a military base was overrun last month.

Residents in Borno State say Boko Haram has recently started to threaten new areas, which has triggered panic and caused thousands to flee.

Critics accuse the Nigerian government of playing down the scale of the conflict, which has lasted for more than a decade.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

A British mining firm, Gemfields, says it has agreed to pay $7.5m (£5.6m) to people in Mozambique who went to court in London over alleged human rights abuses at a ruby mine.

Close to 300 people living near the Montepuez mine complained that private security guards as well as Mozambican security forces had shot, beaten, sexually abused and unlawfully detained them.

Gemfields denies any responsibility for abuses but admits instances of violence have occurred at the mine.

The company says a panel of independent experts will consider any future grievance cases.

It has also agreed to set up an agriculture and skills training fund for the local community.

Image source, Getty Images

Uganda may have more cobalt that previously thought, Canada's mining company M2 Cobalt Corporation said on Tuesday, news agency Reuters reports.

"We are excited so far that in this short time we got really promising results in three target areas," Jennifer Hinton, the firm's director for East Africa operations, told Reuters.

The discovery will help diversify the supply of cobalt, a mineral needed to make electric cars as it is a key component in batteries.

The find followed extensive airborne surveys and drilling in three areas near a historical copper mine close to Uganda's border with Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than 60% of the world's cobalt is produced.

"Grades of up to 1.75% cobalt, 0.91% copper and 0.26% nickel combined with the size of our targets are extremely encouraging," Ms Hinton said, adding that there could be "a bigger regional source of high cobalt concentrations".

M2 Cobalt believes its Uganda property holds huge promise because parts of it shares geological similarities with DR Congo's cobalt-rich south-eastern Katanga region.

Its other mining area is close to the DR Congo's mineral-rich Kilembe region.

Uganda's Department of Geological Survey and Mines says Kilembe has an estimated 4 million tonnes of ore, of which 1.98% is estimated to be pure copper and 0.17% cobalt.

"Historically it was a world-class producer. So we know cobalt is there," Ms Hinton is quoted as saying.

BBC World Service

The authorities in Egypt have arrested a senior official of an opposition group, the Civil Democratic Movement.

Yehia Hussein Abdel-Hadi was detained at his home early on Tuesday.

The group says five other members were seized on Monday as they were marking the eighth anniversary of the 2011 revolution.

In a statement, the movement condemned what it called the "intimidation and harassment" of its members.

During a news conference on Monday, the visiting French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned the deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt which drew an angry response from President Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi.

Ibrahim Aydid
BBC Monitoring

Somalis on Twitter have been reacting to comments made by Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni referring to Somalia as "a country with no state and which lacks 'organised authority'”.

Many of the tweeters say they agree with the "bitter truth" of his words, though some point out that Uganda has its own challenges:

Uganda provides the biggest contingent of soldiers to the African Union force in Somalia (Amisom), which has battling al-Shabab militants in the country for 12 years.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The government in Zimbabwe has called on women who were raped by the security forces to report alleged cases to the police.

The state-run Herald newspaper says only one such attack has been officially reported, despite allegations that many women were raped during night-time raids to suppress protests earlier this month.

A police spokeswoman, Charity Charamba, urged women to use special centres that have been set up which are staffed by female officers.

Correspondents say there is widespread mistrust of the police in Zimbabwe, especially as they were responsible for some recent human rights abuses.

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia

Image source, AFP

Amid growing economic hardships and high cost of living, Liberia's President George Weah - at one time named the world's best footballer - delivered a defiant two-hour long state of the nation address on Monday evening.

Mr Weah - who marked his one year in office a week ago - rejected opposition criticism that he had not lived up to his ambitious plans.

He said:

Amid cheers from supporters, the former footballer-turned politician said, contrary to his critics, that he had not been distracted in serving the people.

Mr Weah has come under enormous criticism lately from the opposition and church leaders because of the poor state of the economy.

He has also been accused, for instance, of putting his personal business interests before affairs of state - allegations not touch on in his speech.

But Mr Weah did address the controversy surrounding $104m (£79m) of newly printed bank notes that allegedly vanished from containers in Monrovia's port and airport in March, two months after he came to office.

He said that an investigative team looking into the matter would release a report at the end of February.

Read: What is President Weah's Liberia scorecard one year on?

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Zimbabwe is under a co-ordinated media attack, state-owned Herald newspaper reports a day after President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he was "appalled" by an attack by security officials on a protester that was featured in a British TV station.

The report by Sky News showed a handcuffed man being pulled away from a van by a soldier and at least one police officer.

He is then seen being repeatedly beaten around the head by one of the officials.

The Herald says that the Zimbabwean authorities are worried about "surreptitious reporting by Sky News and company".

It alleges that a Western embassy is working with two local newspapers to besmirch the country.

The paper criticised the Sky News report saying it was "manufacturing" stories about police brutality.

It also accused the journalist who reported the story of not having accreditation to work in the country.

“We have checked our records and we have not cleared anyone from Sky for accreditation,” Information Minister Nick Mangwana.

He added that John Sparks, Sky News’ Africa correspondent, had not sought the government's comment on the story.

“Their report was not balanced because they did not give the police or army a chance to respond – that is if they were in the country at all,” Mr Mangwana said.

There has been widespread criticism of the way security forces have handled protests that broke out a fortnight ago following a more than doubling in fuel prices.

• Read: Zimbabwe crackdown: 'We are angry, we are desperate'

A suspected car bomb has exploded in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. Plumes of smoke can be seen rising from the scene, though details about the blast are still sketchy.

A VOA journalist reports that at least one person was killed and three others were injured in the explosion.

The reporter says it went off as a car was going through a security checkpoint.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The main opposition party in Cameroon says its leader has been arrested as unrest continues over last year's presidential election.

The Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) party said Maurice Kamto was detained along with two other party members in the city of Douala.

Mr Kamto urged protesters to join demonstrations last Saturday, during which the security forces used tear gas and live ammunition.

President Paul Biya, who has been in power in Cameroon for 36 years, won a seventh consecutive term in the poll last October.

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Welcome back to BBC Africa Live where we will bring you the latest news from around the continent.

That's all from BBC Africa Live for now. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or check the BBC News website.

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And we leave you with this picture from the mouth of the Congo river in the Democratic Republic of Congo:

Image source, AFP

German carmaker Volkswagen have announced they plan to assemble cars in Ethiopia.

The announcement was made in front of the German president as he visited the country.

The carmaker said in a statement , externalthat they will build a car plant and a training centre.

Ethiopia has the world's lowest rate of car ownership, with only two cars per 1,000 inhabitants, according to a 2014 Deloitte report.

Many Ethiopians have found owning a car too expensive because of import taxes of up to 200%.

Image source, gett

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has called Somalia a country with no state and which lacks “organised authority” in a televised speech in the capital, Kampala.

He said Somalia was one example but stopped at naming other countries “for diplomatic reasons”.

Mr Museveni was speaking at an annual judges' conference.

In his speech, Mr Museveni also questioned the effectiveness of the UN.

He criticised the UN for having been in Congo “since 1960 but people are dying like flies.”

The president doubted the security brought by the UN troops as he continued:

Crime level in Uganda is moderate though robberies and burglaries have been on the rise. Insecurity has become a political issue, according to the Economist., external

BBC World Service

Trucks full of people in support of the Nigerian president's decision to suspend the country's top judge have arrived in the capital, Abuja.

It comes a few hours after lawyers protested against the action:

Image source, Getty Images

The Nigerian Bar Association now says it will boycott the country's courts for two days.

On Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari suspended Walter Onnoghen over allegations that he failed to declare his assets.

But it comes just three weeks before the presidential election.

The move is controversial as the chief justice could play a key role in determining who becomes the next president should the outcome of the election be challenged.

The EU and US criticised the suspension and the Nigerian president's spokesman said they were meddling.